President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, approved the start of production of Il-114 aircraft in Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government, Dmitry Rogozin, said. According to him, Il-112V and Il-114 projects were started “after tough negotiations”, Vzglyad reports.
«Quite recently the president approved the start of production of this turboprop aircraft. This will help us develop the segment of regional air transportation,» Rogozin said.
During his speech delivered at the ceremony dedicated to the opening of Aviation and Cosmonautics – 2014 conference held in Moscow Aviation Institute Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia is destined for development of high technologies.
«Russia is destined for development of high technologies. It is the essential “business card” for any large and respected country. What the future holds for our aviation, cosmonautics and engine building? I think the answer is obvious,» he said.
Dmitry Rogozin explained that both “aviation and cosmonautics speed up the development of other industries”. «In fact these are the high technologies that should help Russia decrease its dependence on oil and gas,» he added noting that the country must train high-skilled specialists in light of this situation.
We remind you that production of the first light military-transport Il-112V aircraft was put on hold at the site of Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company (also known as VASO) in July 2011. Following the results of meeting held at Ilyushin design bureau Rogozin said that the parties made a decision to speed up the development and start of mass production of Il-112V light military-transport aircraft.
It was reported in August that the first Il-112V flying prototype will be manufactured in 2015 and its flight testing will be started. Il-112V should replace the outdated An-24 aircraft operated by Russian armed forces.
In October 2014 Dmitry Rogozin said that President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, supported the idea of development of a new aircraft derived from Il-114.
Earlier representatives of Samara-based Aviacor aviation plant told Vladimir Putin at a meeting held in Samara that the enterprise is ready to start the aircraft’s mass production in 5 years; the project was assessed at 10–12 billion rubles.
"12 billion rubles is a large sum of money, but not in terms of this project", - the president noted and instructed the government to assess the expenses.
On October 13th Rogozin said that China is interested in joint production of an upgraded passenger version of Il-114 aircraft. On September 9th Dmitry Rogozin said that Ilyushin Company is ready to start mass production of Il-114 aircraft.
In August President of Russia Vladimir Putin instructed the government to evaluate the feasibility of the project for launching mass production of Il-114 regional aircraft at Samara-based Aviacor enterprise.
Development of Il-114 twin-engine aircraft was started in early 1980s; the turboprop should have replaced Yak-40 and Tu-134 aircraft. The vehicle performed its maiden flight in 1990; the type certificate for Il-114 was issued seven years later.